A pendulum slip test takes about fifteen minutes per area. Anyone with the right kit and training can run one. The test isn't the hard bit. The hard bit is what happens after the report lands on the facility manager's desk with a handful of sites showing a P0 or P1 result, and suddenly there's a compliance problem that needs fixing before someone goes over on a wet floor and a lawyer gets involved.

That gap, between the slip test and the rectification, is where most slip programs fall apart. It's also where Premrest does something that almost nobody else in the Australian market is set up to do: we test the floor, report on it, and then fix it, all under one roof.

What slip testing actually involves

Slip resistance in Australia is referenced to AS 4663:2013 for existing surfaces and AS 4586:2013 for new product specification, with HB 198:2014 providing the interpretation guidance most FMs and insurers rely on. The primary field test is the pendulum, which measures the slip resistance value (SRV) of the floor as it actually exists on site, factoring in wear, contamination and real-world conditions.

Each area gets graded against a classification ranging from P0 (very low slip resistance, not compliant for almost any application) through to P5 (very high). The classification a site needs depends on what goes on there. A dry commercial lobby has very different requirements to a kitchen, a cold room, a pool surround, or a food prep area in a fast food restaurant.

Our slip testing work at Premrest is calibrated, documented and reported to customer-facing standards that insurers and risk managers accept. The report tells you what the floor is, what it should be, and where the gaps are.

The real problem: "OK, now what?"

Here's the scenario that plays out more often than anyone would like. A national retailer, aged care provider or fast food chain commissions slip testing across their portfolio. The testing company does the rounds, issues a stack of reports, and sends an invoice. Job done on their side.

Except now the customer is holding a compliance risk with no clear path to closing it out. Some sites passed. Some are borderline. Some failed outright and need rectification before the next audit, or before someone slips. The testing company doesn't do the rectification. The general cleaning company doesn't do the rectification. The flooring company might do some of it, but won't take slip readings to prove the fix worked.

The customer is now procurement-managing three different suppliers to close a problem that should have been handled as one job. Multiply that across a hundred or two hundred sites nationally and the admin burden alone becomes a full-time role.

What a unified approach looks like

We're currently in conversation with a large national fast food retailer about exactly this problem.

They have the kind of footprint where any slip testing program is a significant piece of work, and the rectifications that follow are an even bigger one. Food prep areas, front-of-house, drive-through entries, loading docks, back-of-house tiling: every one of these surfaces has a slip compliance requirement, and every one of them has a different rectification path if it fails.

The conversation has centred on something quite simple. One provider, one program, one report, one accountability. We test the sites, we produce the compliance reporting, and when remediation is needed we carry out the rectification ourselves, then retest the surface to confirm the new slip resistance value meets the required classification.

That last step, retesting after remediation, is where most of our competitors quietly stop. The floor gets treated, an invoice goes in, and nobody verifies the work against the standard.

Our view is that if we're the ones delivering the rectification, we should be the ones on the hook for proving it worked.

The range of rectification options

Slip rectifications are not a single product. What's right for a tile floor is different to what's right for polished concrete, which is different again to what's right for a timber boardwalk or a stone entry.

A non-exhaustive view of what we regularly do: Chemical anti-slip treatments for ceramic and porcelain tiles, which etch micro-texture into the surface and lift the slip resistance value meaningfully without changing the look of the floor. Anti-slip coatings and overlays for situations where the existing surface is beyond chemical treatment. Replacement of the flooring entirely where rectification isn't viable, typically into a specified product with a known SRV rating. Regular maintenance adjustments, because in a lot of cases the slip resistance issue is actually a cleaning regime issue, where a greasy floor in a kitchen is reading poorly because the wrong cleaning chemistry is being used.

For the fast food scenario specifically, the mix is usually heavy on kitchen tile treatments, targeted replacements in the highest-wear zones, and a few cleaning regime adjustments to stop the same problem coming back in six months.

Why the test-plus-fix model saves money over time

Running slip testing and rectification as separate procurement exercises looks cheaper on paper. A specialist tester will often undercut us on a pure testing price. A coatings specialist will undercut us on a pure rectification price. Neither of them will stand behind the end-to-end result.

What customers find is that the true cost shows up in the gaps. Sites that fail get missed between the testing and the remediation. Rectifications get done without being verified. The next annual test shows the same surfaces failing again, often because nobody worked out why they were failing in the first place. The overall bill across a three-year period is higher, and the risk profile hasn't actually improved.

A unified program costs roughly what three separate contracts cost, but every site that needs fixing actually gets fixed, verified, and stays fixed. The compliance documentation is consistent across the portfolio, and the FM has one number to call when the auditor or insurer has a question.

National coverage matters

Slip testing is one of those services where a lot of providers are regional. They're great in Melbourne or Sydney but struggle to cover Cairns, Perth, Darwin and the regional sites in between.

For a national retailer that's a problem, because slip compliance isn't negotiable just because a site happens to be in Bundaberg. Our mobilisation is built for national portfolios. Direct crews in the major cities, trusted partners in regional areas working to our documentation standards, and one scheduling and reporting layer sitting across all of it.

Flat structure, faster compliance decisions

When a slip test flags an urgent issue, FMs want a fast answer, not a quote chain.

Our structure is flat enough that the person on site talking to the customer can usually make the call on the spot about what the rectification looks like, or is standing next to the person who can. That speed matters when a site has a borderline reading in a customer area and a decision is needed before Monday morning trading.

If your slip program feels like a paperwork exercise

If you're running a multi-site portfolio and your current slip testing program is producing reports but not producing fixes, or you're stitching together three different contractors to close out one compliance problem, have a conversation with us.

The program we're shaping up for national food retail is the same shape of program that suits most multi-site customers, and we can scope what a unified test-and-rectify approach would look like for your sites.

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‍P.S. The slip test is the easy bit. If your current provider stops at the report, you haven't solved the problem, you've just documented it more neatly.

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